Pixar's Onward: Tom Holland and Chris Pratt Recorded Scenes Together for Emotional Impact

Filmmakers on the Avengers stars’ “brotherly” bond.

We caught up with the filmmakers behind Pixar Animation’s upcoming fantasy Onward at Disney’s D23 Expo on Saturday, who revealed that unlike in most animated films they were able to actually get their main stars together to record -- albeit just once.

Onward stars MCU veterans Tom Holland and Chris Pratt as two teenage elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left in the world. Set in a modern fantasy world, Disney and Pixar’s Onward is inspired by director Dan Scanlon’s personal experiences with his brother.

Scanlon revealed they were able to actually record with Holland and Pratt together at one point. “We were able to get them together once and it was so fun just watching them talk to each other,” Scanlon said. “They’re clearly friends and watching them make each other laugh. And just this sort of big brotherly quality Chris has with Tom.”

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Scanlon continued, “Chris, actually taking some of this direction I was giving Tom, and saying it in a way that Tom would better understand coming from him. It was just cool watching this brotherly actor relationship -- [it] was a real joy.”

Producer Kori Rae said they specifically chose scenes for Pratt and Holland to record together that “would really boost the film in terms of the emotion of them just playing off one another.”

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Scanlon added that the chosen scenes were ones “where they’re either very comic or very emotional” in order for the actors to really play off one another.